CHENNAI: Indian duos Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan/Vijay Sundar Prashanth, the second seeds, and defending champions Ramkumar Ramanathan/ Saketh Myneni, the third seeds, moved one step closer to a final showdown at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger on Thursday.
Nedunchezhiyan/ Prashanth had a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win in just over an hour against Zimbabwe’s Courtney John Lock and Japan’s Rio Noguchi. Ramanathan/Myneni, who won the title last year, also had a smooth ride into the last four with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Egor Agafonov/Evgenii Tiurnev. If the Indian duos win their semi-final matches on Friday, they will face off for the title on Saturday.
Nedunchezhiyan/Prashanth will take on the unseeded Japanese pairing of Shintaro Mochizuki/Kaito Uesugi, who upset fourth seeds Francis Casey Alcantara and Pruchya Isaro 7-5, 6-4. Ramanathan/Myneni will meet top seeds Ray Ho/Matthew Christopher Romios, who battled past another all-Indian pairing, Siddhant Banthia/Parikshit Somani to win 7-6, 7-6 in a match that featured no breaks of serve.
In the singles draw, top seed Billy Harris secured his spot in the quarter-finals with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Turky’s Ergu Kirkin. However, second seed Lloyd Harris and fourth seed Alexis Galarneau were both knocked out of the tournament.
Harris, a former US Open quarter-finalist, was dismissed 6-1, 6-1 by Czech Dalibor Svrcina, who put on a commanding display from the baseline, while Galarneau also went down in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to France’s Kyrian Jacquet.
Former Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev also exited the tournament in the second round stage as he went down 6-4, 7-5 to Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov. Fifth seed Shintaro Mochizuki and unseeded Ukrainian Oleksandr Ovcharenko also booked their spots in the last eight of the tournament.